4th Generation family food service business shares secrets of becoming £200m company

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 4 April 2019

UPDATED: 4 April 2019

The opportunity to hear from the Managing Director of a family business that has survived through three generations, that is about to celebrate its 75th anniversary and has already welcomed onboard a fourth generation of family members is unprecedented, for many reasons.

As part of a focus on the food service sector, Tony Reynolds, Managing Director of Reynolds Catering Supplies was the guest speaker at the Saffery Champness Food & Drink forum held at the George Hotel in Stamford. The forums are a series of talks followed by dinner arranged specifically for entrepreneurial companies involved in the food and drink sector. This event was co-hosted with Barclays Bank and More People.

Mr Reynolds described the company’s story of growth and how riding the crest of the wave created by the increase in consumer preference to dine out has enabled Reynolds Catering Supplies to become a £200m company that is now a major national supplier of chilled foods, employing 1200 people. Mr Reynolds cited one of the major reasons for the success of the business was consistently placing the right people in the right roles to ensure that, as the business grew, excellent product quality and customer service levels were maintained.

Commenting Alistair Hunt, a partner of Saffery Champness LLP said,

“Being able to hear from business leaders who have successfully grown their company has many benefits to other business owners. There are learning opportunities at every level; business planning, financial analysis, marketing and HR. The overarching message from Tony’s talk was the importance of building and developing a talented management team to ensure that the business achieves its full potential. He wanted to bring in people that were better than himself to improve the company performance.”

The company currently has contracts in the casual dining, fast casual, pubs, hotels and food service sectors. Customers include The Ivy, Pizza Express, Hyatt and Marriot Hotels, Sodexo and Compass. It also supplies leading venue caterers such as Wimbledon and The Chelsea Flower Show.

Tony Reynolds is a third-generation greengrocer who has been involved with the family business since childhood initially working the market stall in Ridley Road, Hackney. As a teenager, he had a successful youth football career with Leighton Orient and Crystal Palace, then, after an early career in banking at Barclays, Tony joined the family business alongside his father Dave in 1988. Since then, he has driven the rapid expansion of Reynolds to the multi-million pound company it is today. Tony’s sons, Tom and Nick, now both work in the family business.